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Everton manager Sam Allardyce has cast doubt over Wayne ­Rooney’s long-term Premier League future by suggesting that he struggles to be effective against high-level opponents.

Rooney was captured by television cameras unleashing a stream of expletives after being substituted after the 57th minute of Saturday’s goalless Merseyside derby.

It came seven days after the 32-year-old had been replaced at the same stage of Everton’s 3-1 home defeat by Manchester City.

Rooney has moved into a deeper midfield role this season, having been brought back to his boyhood club from Manchester United last July as a No 10, but his lack of pace has been questioned by Allardyce.

The Everton manager suggested in January that he could not ­accommodate Rooney and £45 million club-record signing Gylfi ­Sigurdsson in the same team ­because neither were quick, while he said that Saturday’s substitution was made, in part, because Everton needed “more legs”.

Rooney lasted less than an hour of the Merseyside derbyCredit:
GETTY IMAGES

However, Allardyce indicated that he would continue to use Rooney in a midfield role because of injuries and the failure of Davy Klaassen, signed for £24 million from Ajax last June, to establish himself in the team. Allardyce said: “I can agree with you, to a certain degree, that Wayne struggles against the very best opposition. He didn’t play very well in the first half against Manchester City but, before that, he had been outstanding and we had been a little bit short in ­midfield in recent weeks anyway.

“We’re still playing Tom Davies at 19 and bringing on Beni ­Baningime at 19-years-old and we are without [the injured] Gylfi ­Sigurdsson, who can play there.

“Davy Klaassen is still an ­anomaly to me. Will he or won’t he? If I had the opportunity to play him I would, but I haven’t because I’ve got to win.

“So, I don’t have the luxury of saying, ‘Go on, give it a go lad,’ ­because if we lose, it’s me who gets the stick.”

Allardyce will reassess his midfield optionsCredit:
PA

Allardyce suggested that he will analyse each player’s ­statistics from Saturday’s game ­before deciding whether to play Rooney at Swansea City on Saturday.

“It’s simple for me,” he said. “There’s my eye in the game and then there are the stats after the game. When those stats match what I’ve seen, for any player, it’s where we make our decisions.

“We talk to the player about that situation, whoever it might be, and say levels have to be lifted. And when that continues to happen, no matter who it is, whether it’s Wayne, Phil Jagielka, Tom Davies or whoever, you get left out of the team.”